It was cold...Really cold.  
It was early…Really early  
And we were excited…. Really excited!  

I was fishing in the 19th annual Chesapeake Bay Fall Classic hosted by the Maryland Saltwater Sportfishermen’s Association (www.mssa.net)  The MSSA mandate is to protect and enhance recreational fishing and conserve marine resources.  Every year, for years, they have a number of outstanding tournaments for Maryland fish species. 

 Fall time in the Chesapeake Bay is THE time for Giants… Locals call them, rockfish or linesiders, you might know them as Striped Bass.  I heard these fish grow big but had no idea how large these fish can actually get.  

IGFA – International Game Fish Association just approved the latest challenge for the All-Tackle World Record Striped Bass at 81 lbs 14 oz caught by Gregory Myerson in Long Island Sound Connecticut.  Almost 82 lbs!!! That is one huge animal!   However, at this year’s Chesapeake Bay Fall Classic, we were hunting for her grandmother! 


I was fishing with www.Alltackle.com president Keith Fraser, and 2 of his fishing pals based out of Annapolis Md.   My alarm went off at 4am.  I was crashed out on Keith’s couch and promptly got layered up for day 1… the temp gauge on Keith’s truck registered a nippy 36 degrees and the wind was screaming.  We made it to the boat, loaded up and headed out.  



The tournament had a record turnout with 250 boats entered… boats from Maryland (of course) boats from Pennsylvania and Virginia to name 3.   Our plan was to run about 40 miles to our first spot.    I’ve had the opportunity to see a lot of weird things on the water, from techniques and rituals to bait and technology.  But what I was about to witness literally made me sit back and watch in awe!  Fishing for Stripers is … ummm… interesting.  

The basic set up is that of your regular planer-board system. Using compression clips, you let your lines run out different lengths.  The longest line back is placed closest to the planer board and shortest closest to the boat.  Thing is, you don’t just use 2 rods… when running this trolling system, we ran 16 rods - 6 on each planer board and 4 out the back…  I saw boats running 25-30 rods at one time!  With 2 anglers!!!  The system is ingenious!  


I took the helm and watched as Keith, Sean McCarthy and Bob McConnell expertly put the lines out – each line precisely to length to avoid any chance of a tangle.  What surprised me was the bait of choice by Chesapeake anglers.  Big Rockfish feed on schools of Menhaden and what we were deploying looks nothing… nothing like Menhaden.

 Bloody Point Baits manufactures both the Umbrella rig and the Parachute jig heads used in fishing for striped bass.  They look like animated cartoon characters in Mylar dresses, however to large striped bass, they are CANDY!  

Though we were marking fish constantly, We had a tough day .


 Bob jumped on the rod for our only striper of the day – a twenty plus pound fish.  We caught it later in the day and decided we’d live release her after she was weighed in.. With the water temp in the mid 50s striped bass seem to be quite hearty.  We filled the below deck compartment of Keith’s boat with fresh seawater, added some Rejuvenate and kept that fish alive until lines out and weigh in was complete.  
2011


MSSA Executive Director Dave Smith invited us to stay the night on Solomon’s Island which turned out perfect as it was seriously closer to our original destination fishing spot… it was also key, as we were able to see the day money fish which were weighed.   

Keith’s regular fishing partner approached him weeks before asking if he minded he fish with a different partner for that tournament.  Keith kindly obliged.  What we learned that night with Dave, is Keith’s partner, Steve Dodson wanted to fish with his son (one last time) before he was to head into the Navy.  Well what proved to be a great father son “last tournament” ended up being one of the more heartwarming stories from the water.  Mid-day Steve and his son Mike locked horns with a giant Striper… GIANT. 


This fish ended up weighing just over 51 lbs and at the end of day 1 was the tournament leader… Dave Smith was ecstatic… our crew was now officially motivated!